It Was A Nice Run

Denis Savard fired as Chicago Blackhawks coach:

Four games into his third season as the Hawks' coach and 25th as a member of the organization as a star player, assistant coach and its 36th head coach, Savard was fired Thursday after the team's 1-2-1 start. Joel Quenneville replaces him.

The dismissal came after a season in which the Hawks improved 17 points from the previous one and missed the Western Conference playoffs by three points.

As a player, Dennis Savard was a whirling dervish whose speed and nifty moves (especially the spin) drove North Star fans to fear and despise (just the hit the little bastard!) him back in the hey day of the Hawks-Stars rivalry. But we had to respect him as a player. I'll also never forget the image of him sitting in the room after a game where he skated his arse off contentedly pulling on a heater. Those were the days.

It sounds like he did a decent job as Hawks coach and probably deserved a better fate. Hopefully he'll land on his feet and get another shot behind the bench.